Sermon Sunday Trinity 8
Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52 ; Romans 8.26-end
Kingdom Parables; All things work for good for those who love God.
The kingdom of heaven is like a man who told many stories.
In today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus continues and completes his series of parables of the kingdom of heaven. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had the Parables of the Sower and the Wheat and the Weeds, now we have five more plus a concluding one. These ones are short and pithy; quick-fire parables. There are common themes running through the kingdom parables, yet each of them is unique, with something unique to say. These parables constitute a kingdom collage, and to some extent the medium – this collage – is the message.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed tells us that the kingdom of heaven starts as something tiny and unassuming but grows mysteriously into something enormous and hospitable to all. Perhaps the tiny seed is Jesus and his ministry, perhaps it is the message of the prophets, perhaps it is whatever whispered word of God implants itself in each of our hearts and grows there, slowly and secretly, over a long period of time. What that seeds becomes is a bush so big it can be called a tree (even though a mustard bush was never technically a tree) something so capacious that all the birds of the air – that is, all the peoples of all the nations – come to rest in it.
The Parable of the Yeast tells us that the kingdom starts small and spreads subtly until it permeates everything, leavening a huge batch of bread. Perhaps the woman who kneads the dough is God, and perhaps she is us, co-working with God and waiting. The Parable of the Treasure tells us that the kingdom is revealed when we least expect it, and is more valuable than anything else. The Parable of the Pearl tells us that the kingdom is revealed after years of diligent looking and longing. Like the previous parable it tells us that once we find it, the kingdom of heaven is worth absolutely everything we have.
The Parable of the Fish harkens back to the Wheat and the Weeds. The good and bad must live alongside each other on this earth until the time is right. God’s judgement does not pre-empt, and his mercy gives us all time to grow and to repent. We must wait until the whole world has come to maturity and is ready to be judged. The kingdom is that judgement.
Now let’s turn to our reading from Romans 8. This is a passage of great encouragement. ‘The Spirit helps us in our weakness.’ ‘All things work together for good for those who love God.’ And, ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ Using this passage as a key to our Gospel, we can retitle these parables, ‘Five Ways Not to Worry.’
The Mustard Seed tells us not to worry that the kingdom looks small. Perhaps the Church looks small in world today. Perhaps CR looks small compared to what it was. Perhaps our own lives feel a little small and insignificant sometimes. But they are there, planted secretly in the earth, and they are growing, because though we may pant and water, it God who gives the growth, as St Paul says elsewhere. That growth is something organic, something we cannot manage or make happen.
The Yeast tells us not to worry because we can’t force it. We have to wait. We have to work but not overwork. We have to do our bit to work with God, and then stand back. This parable teaches us patience. God’s work spreads slowly and thoroughly.
The Treasure tells us not to worry because our God is the God of surprises. When we least expect it, when there is nothing to be seen, God’s treasure will reveal itself. For our part, we must be ready to respond, and ready to respond with whole life.
The Pearl tells us not to worry if we haven’t found it yet, however long we’ve been looking, however long we’ve been living this life of religion, and however lonely some of those years might sometimes feel. Like the merchant we must train selves to recognise the kingdom when it comes. We must live our life together as Church, study the scriptures, break bread together, and pray.
The Fish tell us not to worry that there’s evil all around, in the world, and in each of our hearts. God’s good judgement is coming, and for those who love God, all things work together for good, even the bad things in the end.
In all these parables that begin, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like…,’Jesus never actually says what the kingdom of heaven is like. These stories are very frustrating. Instead he says how it works. Why? I can think of three possible reasons, and I’m sure there are more. One is that the Jewish people to whom Jesus is speaking know what the kingdom is: it is the kingdom of justice, righteousness, peace, liberation and the rule of God’s law. They have the witness of prophets to testify to that. What is troubling them is how it is going to come, and why it’s taking so long. And so this is what Jesus addresses. Another reason could be that the kingdom is present in the person telling the stories. One day soon, something so world-changing will happen that it will unlock the hidden meaning of all these stories and more. In the meantime the key is standing right in front of them, like treasure hiding in plain sight. A third reason could be that the kingdom actually can’t be described objectively, because it is a transformative encounter. We are the mustard tree, the bread, the treasure, the pearl, the abundance of good fish. We are not looking for something outside of us. We are the thing that is changing, growing slowly, waiting to be discovered. And so, if we let Jesus train us in the tools of these parables – in trust, patience, expectation, recognition and readiness – then we will be like scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven, bringing out treasures old and new. We will grow in understanding of the ancient scriptures and traditions, and of the promises of Christ in the Gospels. We will let them work in us, in all their variety and ability to surprise us. We will grow to know ourselves and our Church, to accept what’s really there, the real material of change, so we can let God work with it, transforming it and bringing about his abundance of new life. We will see glimpses on the way – a little growth, a flash of gold – glimpses of the wonders that await us.
The kingdom is a collage – the medium is the message. It is the collage of all of us, and of all the different ways God is working in us. In the community of the Church, all things work together for good. The work is not ours but God’s, and so we needn’t worry. If God is for us, who can be against us? The work is not ours but God’s, but we are called we work with God. But the Spirit helps us in our weakness. The kingdom is within us, and the kingdom is among us, as Jesus says elsewhere. It’s not a thing out there, it’s the transformation of our vision. That is the point of parables.
The kingdom of heaven is like a man who told many stories. They were all different, but they all pointed obliquely towards the same mysterious thing. What that thing was, the man would never say, but over time his stories had an effect on his hearers. They changed the way they perceived the world. Then one day the man did something so extraordinary it changed the world, and was no longer the story-teller but the story. Then suddenly, in a flash, the people saw the mysterious thing for themselves, right before their eyes, as if it were their very eyes, and it was more wonderful than they could possibly have imagined. They rushed out leaving everything else behind – their houses and possessions, their families and friends – and ran off to tell the world. AMEN.